Are You Having Fun Yet?

By Jay Bartlett

You’ve been riding for a while now: hitting the trails with your riding pals, soaking in the scenery, and getting good workouts. But are you having fun, or are you caught in a worry loop that riding would be fun if only you had a new bike, were an elite athlete capable of amazing bicycle feats, or could outdo all the people you follow on Strava when it comes to speed and distance? Sure, changing one or more of these could be a benefit to the fun quotient on your next ride, but you don’t need to be (or own) the greatest to have a great time on the bike. In fact, with time and budget constraints or lack of proper genes, most of us will never be able to own the sweetest bike, send the biggest gap jump, or place on the podium at a race. Not to worry. The biggest winner at mountain biking is the person having the most fun. This, of course, is coming from a guy who has seen very few podiums, doesn’t own the nicest bike money can buy, or doesn’t have the necessary skill set to clear even a modest gap jump! So, take my opinion for what it’s worth.

Someone might say to you, “Are you riding 29 or 27.5 inch wheels? 26 inch?! Eww.” They might ask, “Your bike weighs how much?” or “How do you even ride that thing?” when the real question should be this: Are you having fun?

Wheel size is often the center of mountain bike debate when in reality, we all had a blast riding our old, heavy 26-inchers when that was the only choice. Maybe we just didn’t know any better, or maybe the act of riding a bike is just plain fun! Do you need the latest, greatest bike to have fun riding? No! However, if I can play devil’s advocate/salesman for a moment and quote Ferris Bueller (as if he just rode a modern mountain bike), “It is so choice. If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up.” More important than wheel size, the changes in frame geometry have been drastic over the last decade, making bikes more stable, efficient, and forgiving than ever.

Okay, enough sales pitch because what have we learned? You don’t need the best bike to have the most fun. You will need, however, something better than a big-box store bike for safety’s sake, but you don’t need some high-zoot, carbon fiber, trail missile (no matter how choice it is) to have a good ride.

Then there’s this question: What’s a fun ride for you? Some only like to shuttle to the top and ride down, while others relish the challenge of the “ups.” Mileage can make a fun ride turn into a death march if you’re not in shape for it, but as happened to me when I first started riding, I was having so much fun on shorter rides that I contracted a serious case of bike greed. The only prescription was to ride more; I slowly started to push the miles further so I could stay out riding longer to satisfy my greed. Not everyone is going to enjoy thirty-plus mile days, and that’s just fine. I still have fun on shorter rides, and sometimes, I don’t have the luxury of coming home spent from all the fun!

So, ride your sweet spot, or work your way to it. Love the bike you’re on and the talents you have. Not every ride will be great, but with a good attitude, all of them will be fun.

About the Author

Mountain bike veteran, amateur filmmaker, and lover of long rides, Jay Bartlett has been riding trails in Southern Utah for over thirty years. Jay has over a decade of experience as a bike mechanic at St. George’s oldest bike shop, Bicycles Unlimited.